Google has launched a new update to its Google Maps app, adding a new design for the iPad and enhanced navigation that includes traffic updates and incident reports. Google Maps 2.0 also lets people explore by allowing them to look through and discover popular places to eat, grab a drink, do some shopping, and more. Users will also get to view ratings and reviews from friends and experts, so that they know where the hottest spots are located.

The Next Web reports that Google released an update to its Gmail app, guiding users towards the use of other apps by Google. Now when you receive an email with links to YouTube, Google Maps, and Chrome, the links will open up in the app instead of the mobile web browser. This new feature is optional and can be turned off in the in-app settings. The update also lets users sign out of a single account instead of all accounts at once.

This is it. Our favorite apps of 2012, the ones that took our devices to new levels of usefulness. Have your own picks? Tell us below in the comments!

10. Fantastical: What makes the iOS version of this Mac calendar app so great? Jennifer Allen says that it’s because of its natural language features. “Adding an event is a matter of tapping the plus button, like with many other calendar apps. Usually, this is where things get slow and cumbersome with users having to slide through times and dates to find the right one. Fantastical makes it so much easier. Users just type what’s going on. Meeting Joe for lunch tomorrow at 1pm? Type that in and the app understands perfectly. … Excluding typos, it’s tough to fool Fantastical, it’s that accurate.”

9. 1Password: Remembering passwords, especially secure ones, is difficult. Thankfully, version 4 of this password app is extremely easy to use and also comes with extra features for easily filling out private information. As David Rabinowitz says: “The sheer number of different types of information 1Password can remember is extremely impressive and comprehensive. It can store all of the usual things, like identities, credit cards, login information and such. But, it can also remember driver’s licenses, social security numbers, software licenses, wireless routers, and even notes if there is something to store that doesn’t fit in one of the many included categories. The app also has some really impressive advanced features, like syncing to iCloud or Dropbox.”

8. Pocket: Read It Later underwent a stylish renovation with a new name, and the result was this dramatically-improved experience that’s now one of the best cross-platform reading list apps available. The app is perfect for keeping up with longform articles, and its integration with apps like Tweetbot means that it's easy to save an article to Pocket from iPhone, and read it later on the iPad. It’s for more than just reading articles, videos work extremely well with it as well. Now, to just solve the problem of having too many saved things to get through.

7. Launch Center Pro: App Cubby expanded out their popular Launch Center application for easy access to actions on iOS with this new Pro version that brings new features and a much-improved interface. Angela LaFollette says “Launch Center Pro is ideal for users who like to save time and works perfectly sitting in the iPhone’s dock. Once you use it, you’ll never be able to stop. It’s packed with a lot of features, and its intuitive and sharp interface both make it attractive to all iOS users.”

6. Adobe Photoshop Touch: While a stripped-down Photoshop experience has been available on iOS for a while, this expanded experience is the photography enthusiast’s best friend. David Rabinowitz says that “ Although it doesn’t offer as much as its full-featured older brother on the desktop, it’s the best photo editing experience available for iOS. Beginners who have never used Photoshop before won’t feel overwhelmed by the app. The desktop version is known for being extremely powerful and full featured, with an at times cluttered and confusing interface, but the tablet version really only includes the essentials.”

5. The Magazine: Marco Arment’s bi-weekly magazine, with several original articles from talented writers, is probably the best justification for keeping Newsstand around at this point. It has a fantastic minimalistic design as well, which is to be expected from the creator of Instapaper. The topics are varied and provocative, great for a short-but-satisfying read, and it's only available on iOS.

4. Sparrow: Apple rarely approves third-party mail clients, so the fact that this one made its way to the App Store is a blessing for users. Sparrow makes it easy to navigate one’s inbox, quickly seeing unread emails, easily going from one mail to the next, and getting to see just who’s emailing with Facebook integration. It was so good that Gmail acquired the dev team, and the Gmail app is already seeing the dividends of the acquisition. While new feature development has stopped, Sparrow isn’t going away, thankfully: it recently got an update for the iPhone 5 and remains perhaps the best independent mail client on the App Store.

3. Google Maps: You never know what you have until it's gone, and such is the story of Google Maps. Ever since Apple’s mapping solution replaced the default Maps app in iOS, which was powered by Google, suddenly people missed Google’s solution. Well, splitting the app away into a third-party release proved to be a great move: while it is yet to see iPad support, the transit directions are a huge help, turn-by-turn navigation has been added to the app, and it's just generally a better experience than it was before.

2. Tweetbot for iPad: Tapbots brought their Twitter client from iPhone to iPad this year, and while the iPad experience is great enough on its own, the synchronization is the app’s real strength. Being able to easily sync unread position between iPhone, iPad, and even the later Mac version is just an amazing experience that works exactly as it says on paper. It’s the best Twitter experience available, period. Enjoy it while it lasts, thanks to Twitter limiting the number of users that an app can have using Twitter.

1. Paper by FiftyThree: This drawing app is incredibly beautiful, allowing for pieces that look incredibly realistic to be brought to life in the app’s virtual pages. But it may be the fact that it’s actually so easy to use, even for non-artists, that it is extremely compelling. Jennifer Allen says “Paper by FiftyThree does for sketching and artistry as iA Writer does for the writer. It’s simple and unsullied by menu bars and buttons. Instead it’s all about expressing creativity.”

This week at 148Apps.com, we pondered life after the change from Google Maps to Apple Maps. Carter Dotson took a look at his Favorite Four alternatives to Apple's built-in guidance system: "So, there’s a bit of a brouhaha over iOS 6 switching its maps provider from Google Maps to TomTom and other Apple sources. Yes, the 3D flybys in the maps are pretty, but the lack of details once had in Google Maps and loss of transit directions is a backbreaker for some. Sure, Google Maps has a mobile website that can be added as a web app, but maybe it’s time for something all new. Unless or until a separate Google Maps application is released, here’s four fine alternatives for mapping and directions."

GiggleApps writer Amy Solomon got cooking with a kids' game called Dr. Panda's Restaurant: "My son and I are thoroughly enjoying Dr. Panda’s Restaurant as this app has so much to offer in cooking fun for children of all ages. This app consists of a two-story restaurant, each containing a two-person table to be filled with the animals who get welcomed by Dr. Panda, now the chef of this restaurant as well as the one who greets these animals before they are sent to their table. Eight animals are included, as are ten recipes to cook."

And finally, AndroidRundown.com featured a KickStarter Spotlight on Lifx. Joseph Bertolini writes, "Lifx is an LED light that connects to any home wireless network and is controlled by a smartphone. It would have been easy for the developers to just simply stop at changing the color, and I, frankly, would have been satisfied. But seeing as this is a KickStarter project, it is a safe bet that these developers did not become complacent. Some simple additions, such as dimming and batch operation are included, but the one that I am most impressed by is the ability for the light to deliver phone notifications. Imagine every time a text message comes in the room blinks green or blue for Facebook notifications. There is also an option to program lights onto specific actions and cycles, such as dimming over a period of time or turning on every day at 8 am."

And that about covers it for the week that was. Joins us every day for the latest news, reviews and contests - and keep track of it all by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook. See you in 7.

Fleck Touch from Self Aware Games has made its way from the iPad, to the iPhone. The game currently only supports the iPhone, and not the iPod touch, because of the iPod touch's low RAM. As well, the game does not currently work over cellular connections, requiring wifi connectivity.

This is a synchronous MMO game, with social elements. Players can build gardens and fight zombies. It's two mega-popular gaming trends all rolled up into one package! Players can design their home gardens in their own designs, and plant defenses to ward off zombies and other players. The game is based off of real-world maps, but it is not particularly location-based, as it's possible to go to any location and operate there. The game is currently locked in to the continental United States only, but this is because of ongoing work to expand the servers. According to Self Aware Games' Seppo Helava when I spoke with him at GDC, some users once tried to walk from the US to Madagascar. The servers did not handle this well. Hopefully soon, this dream will be realized. Until then, the iPhone update for Fleck Touch is available now.

I've been apartment shopping lately, trying to price the market and decide where I want to move to. I've been primarily searching Craigslist, which offers a lot of listings, sure, but it can be hard to figure out where these apartments are, and there's not much known about listings just from the title. However, to help out, I recently discovered PadMapper. What this universal app does is that aggregates all the data from Craigslist listings along with around the country. Just list the location to search around, put in some details like the number of bedrooms, rent range, and number of bathrooms, and it will find all apartments that match the criteria listed on a handy Google map. Zooming out to find matches in a wider radius, and in to find them on a street-by-street basis is possible. Just want a filtered list? That's available too. It's possible to add notes about specific listings, add them to favorites, and even get directions ot the apartment. Find a good apartment? Just open up the original listing, and find the contact info there. The app aims "to make apartment hunting suck less" and at least, it sure does help. The app is available for free.

Binary Space is set to release an iOS edition of their rather popular PC sandbox thingie. Zombie Outbreak Simulator utilizes Google Maps in order to allow users to unleash the Living Dead practically anywhere. Even right in their own backyard. A number of variables can be tweaked, such as zombie speed and number of law enforcement officials, giving users tons of possible scenarios to set up and watch unfold. New to the iOS release is the ability to zoom in and out to view the action from a detached aerial view to a far more intimate low-flying bird's eye view, complete with animated characters.

Zombie Outbreak Simulator should be popping up in the App Store by the end of the month. Zombie nuts, crazy survivor types, and anyone simply looking for a fun and goofy map app will be able to get their hands on it for $1.99.

Ever wonder where the heck something is? Sure there's Google Maps but it's not always the easiest way of searching for something. As Jeff pointed out a while back in his review, Where To? does exactly that. It was good back then and now it's had a huge update making it all the better.

In the latest update, FutureTap has added a plethora of useful features. Perhaps most useful of all is the ability to view business hours for each destination. It's easy to turn up at a store too late without realizing, or visit the cinema before it's opened - something like Where To? sets out to eradicate that problem. Throughout the experience, a compass style directional arrow points the user in the right direction and links up with Google Earth. This means that users who have never seen their destination will have a great idea of what they're looking for with an actual view of the area. In the U.S and Canada, turn by turn navigational app MotionX GPS (purchased separately) drive can also come in handy here with the Where To? app linking up with it to provide accurate directions within the app. Previously, there was already connectivity with Navigon MobileNavigator and TomTom.

There's even now improved functionality for the visually impaired, courtesy of VoiceOver support, providing directions and distances continuously announced to help any such users.

Where To? was already a great app with over 2,400 brands searchable via the app and the Augmented Reality tools superimposing search results onto the live camera video, but this update looks set to have made it even more vital for those in need of some help travelling.

Where To? is available now for all iOS devices. It's priced at $2.99 with an in-app purchase of $0.99 adding Augmented Reality features.

Maybe I still haven't fully accepted technology for just how wonderful it really is, but it still impresses me hugely when my iPhone can tell me exactly how to get from one place to another within seconds. Presumably, there's a future ahead of us where no one can ever get lost, all thanks to wonderful GPS and Google Maps. This future should clearly include Maps+, a new app from IZE Ltd which aims to build upon the uses that the built in app Maps already offers.

Maps+ brings with it the lofty promise of ensuring that its users will never be lost. A tap of a button ensures that users can pinpoint their location on the map with another tap enabling a compass feature that then rotates the map to match the direction that the user is currently facing.

Users can easily search for an address using the search function and even co-ordinates can be searched if the full address isn't known. Route directions are simple to acquire then with car, bike (in the US) and pedestrian paths being available to consult. There's also the added benefit of being able to set midway stopping points if the user wishes to stop at certain other locations on the way.

If the user is waiting to reach their destination via public transport, they can even set up an alarm that's dependent on location so they need never miss their stop on the train for example.

Particularly useful to fitness addicts, there's also a feature to record the route taken via GPS so that users can keep track of the path they've taken.

Simple social networking features are also available whereby users can view their friends' tweets and the location in which they were tweeted.

Maps+ offers a lot in its quest to be more feature rich than the bundled app of a similar name. It's certainly worth a look for those after a bit more to the free GPS navigation apps currently available.

Maps+ is available now and is compatible with all iOS devices. It's a free app to download but there are some limitations that are bypassed with a $2.99 in-app purchase.

The Hotlist is a geo-social aggregator that finds what's going on around you without you having to do anything at all.

From the press release: "The app aggregates public info from its users Facebook accounts to populate a Google map with events. It then shows them anyone they know who has RSVP'd to a specific event, the guy-to-girl ratio, Yelp reviews of specific locations and any live Tweets to give insight into the pulse of the crowd at a venue or event."

With already 160,000 people on board, and Blackboard and Android users coming soon, The Hotlist is coming together to be the end-all source for what to do on a weekend night. That is, if you like crowds.

All you have to do is get yourself a Facebook account and pick up the app for free. So go on, have some fun!

In an unsurprising move, Google has started to show their Google Ads on their Google Maps service. As thought, it was only a matter of time before this happened, I mean, let it be known, Google Maps is a great service, but even Google (the company who in my eyes is trying to take over the world, slowly) must pay for it somehow. The ads show as little 'Place' icons, and just as normal addresses would they pop-up in iPhone-esque bubbles. These ads are indicated by stating 'Sponsored Link'.

[img id="21club.jpg"]

In the screenshot circulating you can see an ad for a fancy restaurant on West 52nd Street, New York. The 21 Club. The ads are fairly unobtrusive, in fact - very - unobtrusive. In order to view one of these ads, you actually have to click on it's icon on the map.

These ads are also very sparse. In my recent use of the service I only ran into two or three, that said, with recent reports of Apple buying it's own maps company, and possibly developing its own mapping system, perhaps Google Maps is becoming less attractive as each day passes.

Have you seen one of these ads? We'd love to know. Hit up the comments.

Let's face it. We all love Google Maps on our iPhone's. The convenience of swiping here, and flicking there to get directions to where we want to go is all too .. convenient. But, it's been like that for some time now, and it may just be about to change.

Remember when Apple and Google used to be such real good pals? Well, I'm afraid to say that sadly those days seem to be over. After the recent Google Voice saga earlier last month, which managed to generate huge media attention and even managed to get the FCC involved, Google and Apple seem to have been slowly drifting apart from each other.

Today, Gizmodo reports that another recent rumored purchase of Apple's may confirm that this is the case. Uncovered via a tweet posted back in July from the founder of Placebase - Fred Lalonde, it's now rumored Apple have bought Placebase, outright. The acquisition of the company took place in July of this year, but is only coming to light now, due to recent events involving both Google and Apple.

So, what exactly separates Placebase from Google Maps? Well, from this post published on Gigaom in early 2008, we can see Placebase has a few things Google Maps doesn't. For a start, the service allows users to overlay layers upon layers of data on top of each other, to provide an overall richer, fuller experience. On top of this, it's said that Placebase's API is smarter and easier than Google's claiming easier integration into third party products.

But, if Apple now has a maps company which is deemed superior to Google Maps, Why do they need Google? Now, that said I can't see them just dropping Google and the arrangement they currently have for 'native' iPhone maps functionality, after all - it's now one of the iPhone's most prominent features. But you have to wonder. With a maps company under it's belt, Apple could be gearing to compete with Google in this area, in a very big way.